19/07/2011 Minister for Public & Commuter Transport Alan Kelly TD at the launch new national Carsharing websitewww.carsharing.ie on Kildare Street, Dublin. The website has been developed by the National Transport Authority to encourage car users to make the most of their car journeys by offering and seeking lifts wherever possible instead of driving alone. Photo: Gareth Chaney Collins (Image: Collins Photo Agency)

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Alan Kelly vowed to “deal with” a Twitter user who labelled him corrupt.

The minister was then contacted by Labour councillor Dermot Lacey who handed over the alleged details of the user to the party’s deputy leader.

Mr Kelly then replied: “Good stuff fire them on by PM or text will be happy to deal with him/her/them.”

The Twitter user then claimed he was being threatened and abused and said he was looking forward to being “dealt with” by the minister.

He said he had no problem using his real name and would repeat the claims.

Speaking to the Irish Daily Mirror, Mr Lacey said the user had contacted him on numerous occasions.

He added: “I have to dig out the details but I will give them to the minister and he can pursue it in whatever way he wants.

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“To label a Labour minister corrupt is a step too far. The Labour party have got a lot of things wrong but we have got a hell of a lot of things right.

“Throughout the many tribunals, no Labour party member has ever been accused of being corrupt. Nobody has ever been engaged in corrupt practice.

“There is a difference between robust and offensive and this particular user is offensive.”

The spat began after Fine Gael TD Jerry Buttimer hit out at the Saturday Night Show for allowing former Fianna Fail TD Mary O’Rourke on the show.

He described her appearance as “sickening, just sickening”.

The latest row comes after a Fine Gael Cabinet member appeared to label Sinn Fein c***s in an angry Twitter exchange. Foreign Minister Charlie Flanagan bizarrely suggested he had left the “n” out of the word “cult” during a spat with the party’s TD Padraig Mac Lochlainn.

Despite later insisting he didn’t mean to cause offence, he has come under fire for bringing his office into disrepute.

But Mr Flanagan isn’t the first politician to land himself in hot water.

In November, it was Sinn Fein’s chance to turn the air blue.

Party leader Gerry Adams incurred the wrath of unionists north of the border when he issued his now infamous “break these b******s” remark at a meeting in Co Fermanagh.